The role of context in programmatic ad fraud

The role of "context" in programmatic advertising has been a question for the better part of a decade, but this study proves that context certainly still matters when it comes to detecting and preventing ad fraud. Of course, fraudsters are active across the entire digital ad ecosystem, but they tend to congregate in certain areas. For example, ad fraud is nearly 4x as likely to occur within the Society & Culture vertical as it is in the Science vertical.

As publishers and marketers strike more programmatic deals — including programmatic direct deals, which intend to keep context alive alongside the benefits of data-driven targeting — the potential impact a vertical has on ad fraud should not be overlooked.

This post is part of an ongoing series highlighting Pixalate's Quarterly Global Ad Fraud Benchmarks for Q1 2017. Sign up for our blog to learn more.